PETpla.net Insider 03 / 2017

BOTTLING / FILLING PET planet Insider Vol. 18 No. 03/17 www.petpla.net 12 among Chinese consumers. If at all, it was during the winter months that Chinese consumed coffee bever- ages because they were ideally suit- able for boiling. This was not neces- sarily a disadvantage for Tenwow, as the main season for the finished tea products was during the summer months. Tenwow relied on the niche product coffee to offset weaker sales of tea during the winter months. Up to that point, the company had out- sourced aseptic filling of its coffee products to a contract filler. How- ever, the new finished coffee bever- age Banuo is set to be available on the market all year round. Aseptic instead of hot fill Growing demand for coffee and tea coupled with the trend towards in-house production were the main reasons behind Tenwow’s decision to oper- ate its own aseptic lines. One of these was installed by Krones at the Shang- hai plant. For Lu Ying, Vice President Tenwow International Holding, the benefits of aseptic filling compared with the hot fill process are obvious: “For me, the aseptic process offers numer- ous advantages: The average costs of filling the containers are lower, the gentle filling improves the taste. And the aseptic process allows us to fill virtually all products whereas the hot fill process is confined to specific products. And finally, the aseptic process allows us a higher output of 48,000bph – compared with just 36,000bph using the hot fill system.” Reduced preform weight To preserve its brand identity, Tenwow uses the same bottle design as before for the coffee and tea bev- erages. This means that the asep- tic filled containers have the same appearance as the hot fill containers. However, Tenwow has significantly reduced the preform weight. The 500ml bottle now weighs just 21g instead of 26.5g previously. “This equates to a saving of 5g of raw mate- rial per container,” explains Lu Ying, “a financial benefit that results in a clear reduction in overall operating costs.” This line marks the first coopera- tion between Krones and Tenwow. “When we began to analyse the area of aseptic filling, we became aware of the high-quality technology on offer from Krones. We were persuaded of the advantages of this technol- ogy based on customer references to other Krones lines. For us, Krones brings precision and quality, both in terms of the technology and its practi- cal implementation. This was then also confirmed for us in reality with the new line,” explains Lu Ying. Two water lines with Contiform Bloc In the future, Tenwow wants to focus to an even greater extent on health-oriented products, thereby taking a further step towards meet- ing consumer demand. Specifically in the beverage segment, the com- pany’s own R&D department wants to explore new market trends in order to meet consumer expectations with suit- able beverage innovations. In 2017, Tenwow will also signifi- cantly increase filling capacities for its natural mineral water Tribute Spring Water. Following the positive experi- ences with the Krones PET-Asept L2 line, Tenwow placed an order with Krones for two water lines using Con- tiform Bloc, each of which can process 48,000 containers per hour. One of these water lines will be installed in Yifeng, and the other in Chang-xing. Tenwow switched for the first time from the hot fill system to aseptic filling – with a high-performance PET Asept L2 line from Krones. The aseptic filled containers have the same appearance as the hot fill containers. However, Tenwow has significantly reduced the preform weight.